OK, OK! Now I get it…
By Dale Nickey
Los Angeles, CA (The Hollywood Times) 3/1/26 – Elvis was just barely before my time. So, my view of the man and his muse was through the foggy lens of corporate media, tabloid culture and poorly curated interview excerpts. Hence, I pledged my allegiance to The Beatles. I bore witness to their birth. While the Fabs rolled out an endless stream of masterworks, The King was dishing out crap movies and Gospel albums. Oh sure, there were some great records like Heartbreak Hotel, Suspicious Minds and the early Sun Sessions. However, in the main, Elvis for me, was best appreciated in small doses and not to be taken seriously. Baz Luhrmann’s new concert film Epic has changed all that. Elvis gets to speak for himself. Starting with a self-narrated intro buttressed with interviews segments that reveal his thoughtful, eloquent side; not the sequined, corny, song and dance man that (manager) Colonial Parker would prefer you see.
Epic artfully weaves footage from rehearsals, newsreels, and concert footage from his 1970’s period. The live concert footage from his 1970 Las Vegas International Hotel residency is the meaty core of this film. But the ancillary material (much of it newly discovered) gives you a measure of the man and artist that resided inside the glitzy exterior.
The concert footage is stunning. And from my unobstructed view at my simi-private screening, it felt like the man was standing there before me. Alive in every sense. Sweating, gyrating, charming and possessed of a beauty usually memorialized in chiseled marble.
The rehearsal footage reveals Elvis to be a top tier band leader. Witty and good humored. Crafting arrangements, conducting his band telepathically. A word about the band. James Burton (Guitar), Jerry Scheff (Bass) and Ron Tutt (Drums) throw flames every second on stage. They’re the nuclear power center of Presley’s sprawling ensemble that included horns, strings and a battalion of backup singers. In previous TV concert specials, the band served as background scenery in favor of extreme closeups of Elvis and his adoring female legion of fans. On Epic, the band gets some much-deserved face time and they impress mightily. Drummer Ron Tutt is a revelation.
Director Luhrmann took his first shot at chronicling the life and times of Elvis in the 2022 feature length drama Elvis. A film heavy on melodrama and light on historical accuracy. However, since that time Luhrmann did his homework and unearthed some crucial and unseen archive footage. Moreover, the film is edited with the loving hand of an acolyte rather than a “director”, bringing to mind Martin Scorsese’s cinematic love letter to The Band (The Last Waltz).
Any discussion of the Elvis saga unfortunately must include his manager Colonial Parker, a cigar-chomping, bullshit slinging, asshole who turned the remarkable trick of simultaneously ruining Elvis’s career whilst making him the biggest star on the planet. My hands were clenched in fisted rage during the interview segment where Elvis wistfully expressed his deep desire to tour Europe and Japan. Tours that had denied him by Parker’s authoritarian control. We’re left to wonder what might have been if Elvis had been allowed a free hand to guide his own career and choose his own movie roles.
Epic climaxes with a six-minute rave up of Suspicious Minds. A white-hot blinder that serves as the closing argument for Presley’s claim to the Rock & Roll crown. He leaves the stage a spent, sweaty, glorious mess. The elevator doors close. Roll credits. Elvis has left the planet.
Long live The King.
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